


Peculiarities

by CorsetJinx



Category: Final Fantasy IV
Genre: Alcohol, Friendly advice, Gen, Self-Conscious Cecil
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-22
Updated: 2016-06-22
Packaged: 2018-07-16 13:02:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7269400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CorsetJinx/pseuds/CorsetJinx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cecil asks for Kain's counsel on a private matter, revealing a side of himself that Kain had never suspected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Peculiarities

“Is that terrible of me?” In the quiet of the room Cecil’s voice hardly carried farther than the table at which they sat, the young crown prince’s features caught between a sort of sadness Kain did not fully understand and something resigned. Like he expected Kain to answer affirmatively and boast him to be some manner of freak.

He could admit that it had been unexpected, to hear the secret of their discussion murmured out almost shyly from blue-tinted lips. But, he found himself stopping there to bring his cup to his own lips and drink – not deeply, as Cecil likely thought he would, as though this new bit of knowledge was so world-changing as to warrant drowning himself in liquor – Kain was finding it to be more of a revelation that allowed certain things he’d noticed to find their place.

Like pieces of a mage’s puzzle box sliding together, a number of observations he’d made about his friend now made a bit more sense.

Cecil eyed the gauzy veils the ladies of court wore in their hair, on their dresses, with a kind of fascination he himself hadn’t truly understood.

At first he’d thought the pale haired boy hadn’t understood why the girls and older women wore such things – he’d questioned it as well before his mind had happily settled on more familiar, less boring things as fashion – and the way he’d once seen his friend reach out, careful as one handling a newly hatched wyvern might, to touch the skirt of Rosa’s dress.

Rosa had seemed to understand better than he had. Even permitted Cecil to touch her sleeve, to walk a circle around her so that he could better see the details sown into the silk.

He never would have thought the admiration extended to a woman’s underclothes as well – at least of a different sort than what he’d heard from the Dragoons when their talk after training went in such a direction.

Setting his cup down he raised his eyes to meet Cecil’s, a little surprised by the way the other boy almost squirmed.

“To be frank,” he started, unable to keep a hint of awkwardness out of his still changing voice, “it does seem a little odd.” Cecil winced at that, slim fingers tightening around his cup. Kain pressed on before the other boy could speak, softening his tone as best he knew how. “But I do not believe it is something that you should be ashamed of. His Majesty had you dressed in girl’s clothes for years, who is to say that it is something that stems from that time of your life?”

He was trying, by Bahamut’s blessed scales he was trying.

It seemed to have the desired effect, as Cecil’s features slowly relaxed into what Kain recognized as his thinking face and he relinquished the grip he had on his cup. The blue returned to the beds of Cecil’s nails, his friend’s gaze turned inward as he processed what Kain had attempted to convey.

For his part, Kain used the silence as a chance to sip his drink once more, the nervous dryness of his mouth brushed aside by the slightly watered-down wine. Suddenly, he was immensely grateful that they were having this discussion in Cecil’s own room – his previous annoyance at climbing three sets of stairs after the day’s training now turned to relief. On the chance that someone heard, especially any part of their earlier conversation, it might have been an opportunity for someone to start trouble for his friend.

It was precarious enough, Kain thought, with how many of the court had actually assumed Cecil to be a girl once he’d grown from the infant the King had found on a hunt. The shifts and dresses and the ribbons Rosa had delighted in weaving into Cecil’s hair had done its part to – in theory – discourage attempts on his life or kidnapping from a member of court or another nation entirely. Yet with his friend’s features, androgynous enough that even after a second look one couldn’t be sure if Cecil was one gender or the other, a certain form of _talk_ had started.

He hadn’t heard much of it in its entirety, but he had seen the looks directed towards his friend on occasion when no one believed they were being watched. It hadn’t seemed untoward at first, but as they were now older, perhaps a little wiser than they had been, Kain found that he liked it even less than he’d originally surmised.

And Cecil, all differences between them aside, was terribly trusting of most people he met.

Admirable, to an extent, but dangerous in others.

Kain lets himself be distracted from such thoughts as Cecil shifts, finally setting his cup down and fixing him with a small – still shy, as though they haven’t been near enough to brothers for years – grateful smile.

“My thanks, Kain. Your words comfort me.”

He has to look away from the obvious relief and gratitude on the other boy’s face, pushing back the twinge in his chest and reaching for the pitcher between them. As he pours more into his own cup, and into Cecil’s when his friend nods once and tilts his cup just so, Kain allows himself a smirk.

“You are welcome, of course. I would be a poor friend if I did not tell you the truth.” The bottle emptied, he set it aside. Watching Cecil lift his drink to his lips once more, he blithely added, “Though I suspect you will not be able to convince Rosa to share her undergarments with you, Cecil. You’ll either have to locate ones that fit yourself or chance being seen at a tailor’s for such things.”

It had the intended effect – violet eyes going wide as Kain’s words sank in and a choked noise rising from Cecil’s pale throat as he sputtered, quickly drawing his cup away from himself as it turned into a coughing fit. Soft looking white hair spilled around the prince’s face as he bowed his head, dragging uneven breaths into his body as the wine went down harshly. The sound of the boy’s coughs was loud in the room, but any guilt Kain felt for it was tossed out the metaphorical window as his friend managed to shoot him a decently nasty glare from beneath his bangs.

He returned it with a smile, thin and bordering on laconic as he sipped his own drink.

Once he’d regained himself, using one pale hand to wipe at the liquid that had spilled down his chin rather than something proper like a napkin, Cecil set his cup down with a surprising lack of force considering the look he’d sent him moments ago.

It didn’t do anything to get rid of the pale pink dusting Cecil’s cheeks.

“I wouldn’t – I would never ask something like that Rosa.” Usually soft and polite, Cecil’s voice was now ragged from his fit – and unless Kain had develop a hearing problem within the last minute he was quite sure he’d managed to thoroughly embarrass his friend.

“Are you sure? You hardly fight her these days when she asks to put more ribbons in your hair.” Kain made sure to set his own drink down as well, not fully trusting that Cecil wouldn’t decide to take the easier, if more childish, route of making him spill it all over himself in revenge.

He fought down a laugh when the other boy rolled his eyes, not at all subtle about showing his displeasure. Something still must have shown on his face however, because the look he was being sent from under pale lashes was decidedly unimpressed.

“I don’t fight her because I know she can get back at me for refusing her later.” His friend held his head high, daring him to challenge the sincerity of the words. A moment passed as they looked at each other, his own smirk doing little to diminish the straightforward stare Cecil was giving him. Yet the look crumbled a little at the edges, almost guiltily, and Cecil added, “It makes Rosa happy when I let her do it, so more often than naught I don’t mind.”

“And you enjoy it.” Kain shot back, humor evident in his own voice. At his friend’s look he simply clicked his tongue. “You think I don’t know that you smile every time she does it? It’s plain for all to see you know. I am also aware that you sometimes pull them out when she isn’t looking just so she’ll have to start over.”

Some of the color left Cecil’s face before it returned, with reinforcement.

“You aren’t going to tell her, are you?”

Kain made sure the roll of his eyes was quite evident at that. “I’m almost certain that she already knows, Cecil.”

A bashful expression settled over the prince’s face and Cecil took a deeper sip of his wine than before.

Watching him, Kain found himself speaking again, softer than he’d managed thus far. “You have my word that I’ll tell no one about this. For whatever that might be worth.”

Cecil blinked, lips still pressed to the rim of his cup and appearing surprised. It softened a moment later, blue lips still glossy as the white haired boy lowered his cup to smile.

“I know, Kain. I trust you.”


End file.
